Friday, March 5, 2010

KUNA

Hello All!This past weekend I went to Louisville, KY with my brother Evan and my best friend for a Middle school conference called KUNA. KUNA stands for Kentucky United Nations Assembly. At KUNA your school picks a country (we were Australia) and writes a proposal, which is like a bill, about issues going on in the world, and how they affect your country. Our proposal was about maritime piracy, and how it affects Australia. Your country writes a persuasive speech to try to persuade other countries to vote for your proposal. Our proposal wasn't in a regular summit, like European or Asian, but since our proposal had to do with world security, we were in the Security Council. Our proposal didn't get passed, but it was the highest ranked proposal in our summit. Another thing we get to do in KUNA, is an International Stage. The International Stage is something your country does to represent their culture. Many people sing their national anthem, or do dance from their country. My country, Australia, sang a song that is very familiar to the Australians, Waltzing Matilda. It's a song about an Australian hobo, who wanders throughout the Australian outback. My brother told about the song and gave definitions to the unfamiliar terms in the song. Then my friend and I sang the song. We were the only performance to get a standing ovation! On the last day of KUNA, we get awards. During the previous 2 days, other countries give their speeches and present their proposals, and we have pro/con debate. The other kids at KUNA are able to get up and speak about why they think that proposal is important, or not important. The advisors there at KUNA watch the kids there and pick the ones who are the best speakers, the ones who are the most confident, and give the most eloquent speeches. So on the lasat day, many of the KUNA kids get best speaker awards, however you can only have 1 per country My brother got a best speaker award! We are so happy because he is in the 8th grade, so this is his last Jr. KUNA.All in all, I think this KUNA experience was great. We made lots of new friends, and we learned a LOT. I think that's what most important.-Julianna ♥